Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

 

Starring: Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, Brian Thompson, Sandra Hess, James Remar, Lynn Red Williams 
Director: John Leonetti 
Choreographer: Robin Shou, Pat Johnson, Ridley Tsui


Before The Matrix revolutionized the American action film by creating a trend of using CGI-enhanced martial arts and the such, Hong Kong influence actually had begun to make quiet inroads into the Silver Screen with some certain "transition films." These brought in Chinese choreographers or did the choreography with a certain Hong Kong flavor, but without necessarily drawing attention to itself. Among these movies were Blade (1998), The Big Hit (1998), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and the already reviewed Double Team (1997). However, the first of these transition films was a successful film called Mortal Kombat (1995). 

Two years after the first Mortal Kombat defied expectations, a sequel was made. Interestingly enough, Paul W.S. Anderson’s name is nowhere to be found on the credits, with cinematographer John Leonetti (who photographed the first film) taking the chair for his freshman directorial effort. Now the first movie had ended with our heroes walking triumphantly into the Temple of the Order of Light (in Southeast Asia) after having defeated Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat tournament. However, the sky then goes dark, and the Emperor Shao Kahn appears, and announces that he shall steal the souls of the good guys. And that's where it left off, and that's where the sequel begins. 

Shao Kahn (Lionheart’s Brian Thompson), his generals (Sheeva, Montaro, Ermac, Rain, and Sindel), and an army of ninjas drop out of the dimensional gate. Shao Kahn proclaims the destruction of both Earth and humanity, saying that it will all happen in six days. Raiden (The Quest’s James Remar) challenges Shao Kahn to a fight and begins to wipe the floor with him. However, Shao Kahn results to treachery and when the smoke clears, Johnny Cage is dead. I'd like to note that in neither of the two films does Johnny Cage get to throw a Shadow Kick that actually connects with the intended target. I'd feel gyped if I were him. 

Our heroes (Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Kitana, and Raiden) escape into the bowels of the earth in order to seek help. Liu Kang and Kitana decide to search for Nightwolf in the American southwest while Sonya sets out to find her partner Jax. Raiden decides to look for the temple of the Gods to find out why Shao Kahn and his armies are being able to attack the earth. 

While underneath the earth, Liu Kang and Kitana get into a bunch of fights with Smoke (MK3 cyborg form, played by HK veteran Ridley Tsui), Scorpion (now played by J.J. Perry), and a bunch of ninjas. Evening out the odds is Sub-Zero (now played by Keith Cooke, who’d played Reptile in the previous film) who comes in to assist the good guys. When all is said and done, Kitana is kidnapped and Sub-Zero leaves Liu Kang to continue his journey. Now, if I were Liu Kang, I'd be a bit upset with Sub-Zero, since I'd expect him to contribute more to the saving of humanity than simply fighting a couple of guys. I'd want him to stick it out to the end—sort of a running gag with supporting characters in this film.

Anyways, Liu Kang finds Nightwolf on top of a mesa, who teaches him how to perform an "animality." Like Sub-Zero (and Scorpion), Nightwolf then disappears from the film for no good reason because…why? Don’t either of those two losers worry about taking a more proactive stance in saving the Earth? Waking up from a dream-like state, Liu finds that it has inexplicably begun to snow and that there's an Asian girl (Siberian supermodel Irina Pankaeva) with him in an outfit not unlike what Raquel Welch wore in One Million Years B.C.. She first tries to seduce him (why couldn’t she perform the mythical “nudality” that 13-year-old boys used to talk about in those times?) and when he spurns her advances, she becomes Jade and begins to fight him. Like an old kung fu movie, you’re never five minutes away from the next fight scene in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. 

Sonya finds Jax at a government laboratory. Incidentally, he's had a some surgery performed on him and now has some cybernetic strength-enhancers put on his arms. What I wanna know is why everyone else at the lab vanished into thin air, but he's still there. Anyways, their reunion is broken up by the appearance of another cyborg, Cyrax (also J.J. Perry), and some more ninjas. After that fight, they set out to find Raiden and the others, albeit not before getting into another fight with Mileena (Dana Hee, a Hollywood stuntwoman and Tae Kwon Do commentator). Well, if you're seeing a pattern, you're right. The heroes go somewhere and get into a fight. They go somewhere else and get into another fight. They go somewhere else and...you get the point. 

I won't hesitate in saying that this is a flawed film. It is very flawed. You see, our characters have to not only fight the forces of evil, but they have to engage in mortal kombat with a badly-written script, a bad plotline, and their own acting limitations. The plot seems to exist mainly as a way of finishing up where the first movie left off, but for the direction that it goes, it tries too hard to include most of the characters from the game in order to please video game fans. One possibly way of handling the storyline would've been to make it an essential remake of the first one, with the emperor calling a new tournament and having our heroes recruit some fresh blood to compete against the villains. I mean, the result would've been the same, but the sudden appearance and disappearance of all these characters wouldn't have been so jarring. As it stands, it is full of holes and plot devices that go nowhere: two-thirds of the movie is spent on chasing a legend that ends up being a complete lie; the revelation that Jade is a spy for Shao Khan doesn’t impact the film in any way; characters show up and vanish for no reason whatsoever; etc.

The script and acting needed a bit of work as well. James Remar does a pretty good job filling in Christopher Lambert's shoes as Raiden. Robin Shou is alright as Liu Kang; he did better in the first one. Brian Thompson overacts as only Brian Thompson can, while Talisa Soto underacts to the point that you wish the camera would just focus on her rear. The others struggle with a script that seems more at place in a Power Rangers cartoon than in a film based off of an ultraviolent video game. I guess that's the big problem, the presentation of this film is more suited for kids and pre-teens than it is for older audiences. And re-watching this after the release of the Expendables 4 trailer, can we stop writing black characters in action movies to say, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!”?

So what'll really make or break this film is the martial arts. I mean, good martial arts can redeem even the worst movies to some degree. Like the first movie, the choreography is divided between Hong Kong veteran Robin Shou and Pat Johnson (who also did second unit directing). And like the first movie, you can obviously tell the difference between the work of both choreographers. Shou's choreography is pretty good and Johnson's pales in comparison. This is especially noticed in the fight between Sonya and Mileena, which at one point, becomes devolves into a mud wrestling match between the two girls (too bad Sammo Hung didn't choreograph the fight, he did an excellent job with a hand vs. sai fight in Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars). The best fights of the film occur in the first third of the movie and involve the two fights under the earth's surface and Sonya's and Jax's fights in the laboratory. 

As far as the actors are concerned, they all make a pretty fair showing. Robin Shou, who although he is no Jet Li (or Donnie Yen or Zhao Wen-Zhuo), does a good job and does some nice-looking moves, especially in the finale—come to find out, many of his acrobatic moves were performed by an uncredited Tony Jaa. Swiss model Sandra Hess, who plays Sonya, sells her fights better than Brigitte Wilson ever could. James Remar's stunt double is Ray Park, who’d later go on to play Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode 1. His fight with the Reptiles is pretty good—although in another plot hole, three Reptiles are shown, but only two of them fight Raiden. Keith Cooke impresses in his fight against Scorpion, showing off some nice aerial kicks. Cooke is actually a very talented wushu stylist and is arguably the best thing about the China O'Brien movies that Cynthia Rothrock made.

The visuals in this film have not aged well in the ensuing 26 years. While the CGI used in the energy blasts and stuff is alright, the digital monsters are atrocious. I liked the idea of Shao Khan transforming into a hydra obviously inspired by Jason and the Argonauts, but the Random Flesh Demon and Liu Kang’s Dragon were pathetic. The costumes are a lot more vivid in their coloration than they were in the previous film, making them look chintzy and fake. Goro looked good; Sheeva looks goofy. Between the bright colors and excessive posing, you can tell that the filmmakers thought they were making a Power Rangers movie more than they were making a Mortal Kombat film. But still, the movie is worth checking out just as another example of the transition that American martial arts movies made from the static old style to the imaginative and intricate Hong Kong style. The following year, films like Blade; Rush Hour; and Lethal Weapon 4 would really show audiences how it could be done.